For Jina

Glowing softly in the light
Against the neck
Above the breast
It rises on a pale crest


Smooth and round it
Rolls across the skin as
Clouds blown over desert sand


Satin, silk and velvet are as one
Pillowed there, the moon
Serene, at rest


Below its crown of tourmaline
Held in place
By chains of gold
It isn’t bold


No more than a
Child so soft
Skin so pure
Part of one


But not of one
Resting, too, upon
A breast, that dusky
Breast of death


Chained by love
No heart’s surcease
The pearl of love
In your embrace

Wow. Amazing stuff so far.

And since this the only style of drabble that my brain seems to generate and I don't wear jewelry myself (100 words exactly):

Sharing the Wealth

The towering barbarian slips the gaudy jeweled band onto his meaty finger. He frowns at the ring a moment, and then begins jumping up and down. Unsatisfied with the result, he hurls himself backwards, hitting the ground with a heavy thud and a grunt. Scowling, he climbs to his feet and barrels into a stone wall. The resulting thud is even heavier.

His slender companion watches this for a moment before gliding over to the robed man sitting in the corner. “It’s not really magical, is it?” he asks quietly.

“No.”

“Still pissed about him sitting on your familiar?”

“Yes.”

(I've always wondered about the ridiculous things gamers have their characters do trying to figure out how the newly-found magical item works. I've never been witness to someone having their wizard pull a prank like this, but I may have to try it in some future game.)

Does anyone have recommendations for good research material on English mythology and folklore? Basically all I know I got from Cooper or Tolkein.

I'm looking for more information about the Wild Hunt, Robin Goodfellow, Wayland Smith, the Green Man, stuff like that.

Actual print book preferred to internet site.

Ta ever so.

Ah Sail, you brought me to tears before 6am.

Raq, I've seen a lot of writers refer to The Golden Bough by Frazer, although it looks like it is about lots of different mythologies, not just English.

jewelry

Money had better things to do than rings when we got married, so I dug in my jewelry box for a nice ring that fit. That ring has been on my finger so long there's a deep groove in my finger. A proud scar that speaks more of my wedded state than any jewelry.

Fifteen years after the wedding, we finally got matching rings. Cheap silver Celtic interlace we spotted one day at our favorite occult store. We had the money, we had the thought, we had the rings. No ceremony, but for the next few months we'd knock rings together and grin.

The small silver open-work medallion is a Celtic dragon. I don't remember when I put it on, I rarely bother to take it off. Provincial locals stare at it and look uncertain.

"Is that Arabic?" one asked suspiciously.

"Celtic interlace," I say again.

"What's that?"

I thought of taking the necklace off, then decided I'd rather open minds, one small explosion at a time.

Promise

I don’t do jewelry.

It’s odd, considering my taste for haute couture and five-star hotels. My metal allergy’s a contributing factor, but the truth is, I look at most jewelry and my reaction is a polite “very pretty” and inner incomprehension. I appreciate the workmanship, but the rest leaves me elsewhere.

The one exception is the three-ring set on the third finger of my left hand. That set stays where it is.

I got neither the ring - nor its underlying promise - the first love around. You’ll get this one off my hand when you take the hand from the arm.

This category is producing great drabbles!

Jewellery drabble:

I grew up in a town where huge, gold earrings and a ring on every finger was the fashion and still is today. I made this look my own, until it no longer suited me. Eventually, I replaced gold hoops and ruby rings with dangling silver earrings and a platinum and sapphire ring. The ring is antique I bought for myself when I graduated from high school. I wore it everyday, until it became too small for my finger. I currently wear no rings and one of three pairs of delicate, marcasite earrings, each pair a thoughtful gift of love.

Thanks, Ouise! I do have the abridged version of that (and have poked around in the unabridged) and it's useful.

As I'm looking, it turns out that I know more about British myth and folklore than I thought I did, but there are some vasty pools of ignorance.